The present invention relates to a method of making bread from dough.
In traditional methods of making bread, pieces of kneaded bread dough are placed in baking moulds and these moulds are put into the oven in order to bake the dough into a loaf. The total preparation time is approximately 3 hours. When the leaf is cooled it is suited for sale. For consumption it is necessary to slice the loaf into separate slices or pieces of bread either after baking, when it is sold or just before consumption.
The object of the invention is to provide a method of making bread which results in considerable simplifications and savings.
For this purpose the method according to the invention is characterized by preparing the dough; rolling out the dough into a flat strip; cutting the strip of dough into pieces; baking the flat pieces of dough in an oven; and cooling and, if desired, packaging the flat pieces of baked bread.
These measures lead to a number of advantages. First of all, it results in a considerable saving of energy costs since the pieces of dough only need a short baking time due to their small thickness, for example between 1 and 20 minutes, and preferably between ca. 2 and 8 minutes compared to approximately 50 minutes for traditional loafs (at approximately the same temperature, ca. 270xc2x0 C.). Due to the small thickness of the pieces of bread it is directly suited for consumption thereby avoiding the necessity of slicing the bread, which results in a considerable saving. The total preparation time may also be reduced substantially, from ca. 3 hours to 30-60 minutes. As the xe2x80x9cslicesxe2x80x9d of bread are baked on all sides it is more difficult for fungus to penetrate into the bread making the bread less perishable, also due to reduced dry out as a result of the protective crust. The operation of kneading the dough, rolling it out into a strip and cutting it into pieces is very well suited for automization, thereby saving on labour and making the remaining work less intensive and strenuous.
Depending on the type of dough and the desired xe2x80x9clightnessxe2x80x9d of the bread, the bread dough may be rolled out into a strip having a thickness of ca. 1-30 mm and preferably ca. 5-9 mm.
An automized embodiment of the method is one in which the strip of dough is conveyed on a conveyor belt and the pieces are cut by a rolling cutting means. It is favourable therewith if, during the cutting operation, the pieces of dough are provided with weakening lines in order to define a number of sandwiches within a piece of bread. This enables the formation of handy sized flat pieces allowing a number of pieces to be packaged together. The weakening lines allow an easy separation of a sandwich from the piece of bread. The invention also includes such bread.
The invention further includes a cutting means to be used with the method described above, comprising one of more rollers, having transverse and/or circumferential cutting ribs on its surface, and preferably including weakening line ribs positioned intermediate the cutting ribs and being smaller in height than the cutting ribs.